Ratings
Ratings are based on a four star system.
One star means that the commercials are more entertaining than the program.
Two stars watch if you have nothing better to do.
Three stars is good solid entertainment.
Four stars means you never dreamed television could be this good.

I liked the new James Bond movie, A Quantum of Solace, a lot. It's not science fiction,
but it has gotten some bad reviews, so I wanted you to know that if non-stop action is what you look for in
a Bond movie, this one's got it.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

Writers, Part Two

In the mid-October SF Site column, I talked about
the four men I think are the best writers working in modern
genre television, J. Michael Straczinski, Ronald D. Moore, Joss Whedon, and Tim Kring.

It baffles me the fuss fans make over actors. There are thousands of very fine actors in the world. Most
of them are out of work. A local theater group never has any trouble lining up a terrific cast for any
production. A Summer Stock company can easily hire a big name star past his zenith. So, if one set of
actors didn't happen to appear in your favorite tv show, another set would have done just as well, and
you would be lining up for their autographs, instead of leaving them a fifty cent tip when they wait
on your table in the coffee shop.

Writers are another story. While essentially all television writers meet professional standards, very
few thrill you. Those who do deserve your support. Dorothy Fontana, one of the very best writers for
the original Star Trek, was a guest at a Worldcon where I was a gopher, and to get an
audience for her talk, I had to go out into the lobby and shout "Recruiting for the Dorothy Fontana
talk." I got about a dozen fans to follow me into the room where she was speaking. Meanwhile, down
the hall, fans were lining up for a chance to get Grace Lee Whitney's autograph.

It's the writer who makes the difference, people. In their most recent film, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro
couldn't sell tickets, because the writer sucked.

So, after my top four, who else is currently making a major contribution to genre television?

If you follow the Hugo awards, next on the list should be Steven Moffat. He has won
the "Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form" Hugo Award for the last three years, for Doctor
Who scripts. In all, he's written six Doctor Who scripts, my favorite being "The Doctor
Dances." He also wrote the absolutely fabulous Comic Relief Doctor Who episode The Curse of
Fatal Death, in which Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Grant (among others) play The Doctor, and the eight minute
special Time Crash, where the Fifth Doctor meets the Tenth Doctor. Most of Steven Moffat's writing is for
a TV show I've never seen, called Coupling. I don't think it's science fiction.

After Alfred Gough and Miles Miller, creators of Smallville and good writers both, left television
for the movies (where they have probably made more money but have been less successful as writers, writing such
films as Herbie Fully Loaded) the main writer for Smallville has been Steven S. DeKnight. He's
also written for Buffy and Angel, and will be writing for the upcoming Joss Whedon
series Dollhouse. He's OK, but Smallville has gone downhill since Gough and Miller
left. Other regular Smallville writers, who've been with the series since Season Two, include two writing
teams, Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer and Brain Pederson & Kelly Souders.

I like the writing Josh Friedman has done for Terminator – The Sarah Connor Chronicles. He has
been able to show John Connor growing up, changing from a wild kid to a leader of men. Friedman wrote the
script for Steven Spielberg's big screen version of War of the Worlds. In addition to scripting several
episodes of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, he is the one who crafts the story arc that other writers fill in.

So. Names to watch for. If you really, really enjoy a television show -- we're talking absolutely first rate
here -- note the name of the writer, and tell me. I'll mention it in a future column. Writers need all the credit
they can get.